#Getting Unstuck

[xerserise]

Executive function tip for when you are stuck in a loop and don't want to be.

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Notice. Pause. Identify. Work Toward.

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Notice: Scrolling and cycling between apps, getting my brain all anxious about all the bad things happening in the world, while struggling to get myself to start my day? Unproductive. But it happens. A lot. And there are other unproductive and actively harmful loops I can get stuck in.

So, when I notice that I'm getting locked in an unproductive loop, I try to pause.

(Rest is productful, though. I'm not against mindless scrolling when it's actually useful for me, such as for decompression.)

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Pause: I used to try to get myself to 'go do the thing' while I was still stuck in a loop, and that rarely worked. Asking myself to pause—usually entailing a looking up, a deep breath, a small stretch, and/or focusing my eyes on something at a different distance from me than the thing I'm stuck on—creates almost no demand and requires no preparation.

There's no commitment. It's just a breaking of concentration when I'm not happy with concentrating on the thing I'm stuck on.

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Identify: Once I've paused, I can think a little more clearly about the loops I'm stuck in and what things I may want/need to work toward to that require not being stuck in those loops. That's when I identify something to work toward (or a less stressful way to occupy idle time).

The currently identified thing is 'get out of the bedroom'. No specific plans after that, just generally start my day.

Sometimes it's a bigger thing, a project that I want to work on, but even then I try to identify the thing to work toward as the getting myself in the general proximity of the tools required. It allows me to regularly check in with myself and see what my capabilities at the moment are.

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Work Toward: Once I've identified something to work toward, I can start taking steps in that direction. Currently, I'm working toward leaving the bedroom by tidying up the bed that I've been sitting on. Which included putting away the laptop, with a minor tangent of writing this post.

Sometimes it means gathering supplies. Sometimes it means putting everything away. Sometimes it means going somewhere and pacing around and looking at things and thinking.

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Notice that you're stuck and don't want to be. Try to pause for a moment. Once paused, identify something small that will lessen the likelihood of going right back into that stuckness. And take steps toward that.

[drendarmorevo]

In Old "Text Adventure" Style

You enter the mostly empty space to find the shop keeper sitting on a stool, what's in the room isn't very much, a few bits and bobs, a few pieces of furniture, but the industrial lighting overhead makes you think this used to be a bustling space with many workers in it trudging away at some manner of light industry. The age on his face is only surpassed by the age of his hands, did he work here before only to end up here again? You might never know, but he looks like he might tell you if you ask earnestly.

[peppurthehotone]

What do you do? I'd love to know.

I’m having one of those days where I really want to tell you all something, but I can’t put my finger on what it is. When this happens, I start to feel like my inner psychic is trying to tell me something, but that I am not hearing her. Like, she’s telling me to take the headphones off…and listen. Sometimes, I can do this. Sometimes I can remove the barrier that is making being present so…

[arianezurcher]

Unstuck: How to Keep Creating

[stellacartography]

talk it out! Talk to your beta or another writer. Someone else getting excited about your ideas can be inspiring!

Summarize your story. Even if you've already written several iterations of summaries, write another. Explain it in a different way or from a different perspective.

Some of my writer’s block cures:

Handwrite. (If you already are, write in a different coloured pen.)

Write outside or at a different location.

Read.

Look up some writing prompts.

Take a break. Do something different. Comeback to it later.

Write something else. (A different WIP, a poem, a quick short story, etc.)

Find inspiring writing music playlists on YouTube. (Themed music, POV playlists, ambient music, etc.)

Do some character or story prompts/questions to get a better idea of who or what you’re writing.

Word sprints. Set a timer and write as much as you can. Not a lot of time to overthink things.

Set your own goals and deadlines.

Write another scene from your WIP. (You don’t have to write in order.) Write a scene you want to write, or the ending. (You can change it or scrap it if it doesn’t fit into your story later.)

Write a scene for your WIP that you will never post/add to your story. A prologue, a different P.O.V., how your characters would react in a situation that’s not in your story, a flashback, etc.

Write down a bunch of ideas. Things that could happen, thing that will never happen, good things, bad things.

Change the weather (in the story of course.)

Feel free to add your own.

[helenwhiteart-blog]

Are you becoming more aligned with yourself than you realised?

Has your year been really challenging in lots of ways….but….when you allow yourself to pull back and gain the overview, you can sense just how positively impactful and on track it has all really been? Can you sense how you have actually been getting much more in alignment with who you really are all along the way, if not always by the most predictable or tidy means? Can you sense that it has all…

[digitalinktees]

Remembering Gratefulness

This year has been a mixed bag of good and bad.

It has been a rollercoaster ride- from starting the New Year hopeful of situations changing, to a Summer vacation spent with 4 teenagers in the midst of unimaginable heat, a loss of a beloved cat (Riley), to a new school year full of bad attitude from a 15 year old son who used to sit on my lap and watch Paw Patrol, and a medical diagnosis that forced me to make serious changes to my life.

What would we be without life's challenges? The ups make us happy and give us memories we will treasure, and the bad gives us a place where we can either get stuck or find strength from God to keep moving forward.

In all of it, I am grateful. Grateful that I could spend one more summer vacation with my two kids and their friends- even though vacation was far from perfect.

Grateful that I could hold Riley while he breathed his last and that he is not suffering anymore, and the memories of him and his love.

Grateful that even though my son is going through a difficult time, he gets up everyday and tries to do better for himself and those around him.

Grateful that this medical diagnosis has forced me to rethink the bad choices I've previously made and provided the opportunity to make the necessary changes.

It is easy to get stuck. It is easy to remain unstuck and move forward. It is a choice we make and though we must allow ourselves to grieve losses and growing pains and out of control temperatures- we can't allow ourselves to get stuck in all of that.

This year- I'm grateful. For everything.

[mftulin]

Poem: Purple Taquitos by Mark Tulin

Poem: Purple Taquitos by Mark Tulin

Published in the fine site, The Brain is a Noodle. Photo by Mark Tulin. When you feel stuck, there’s always an unusual food you can try. There’s a funky neighborhood you could visit to help you get unstuck. Enjoy my poem Purple Taquitos.

[leadlikeaqueen]

Are You Stuck In Your Trauma?

For a black woman leader who feels that she's stuck going in circles and never obtaining the goals she's pursuing, sometimes she just needs help recognizing what's keeping her stuck. Listen or watch episode 8 of season 4 Plant Your Seeds of Transformation

How Can You Recognize Trauma So You Can Get Unstuck? For a black woman leader who feels that she’s stuck going in circles and never obtaining the goals she’s pursuing, sometimes she just needs help recognizing what’s keeping her stuck. Listen or watch episode 8 of season 4 on the Plant Your Seeds of Transformation Podcast. LISTEN VIA SPOTIFY, or… Episode 8 via Spotify WATCH VIA YOUTUBE,…

[egophiliac]

Do you have any final theories/desires for Book 7 Part 12?

(slamming fists on table) I DEMAND MORE CHE'NYA

[strawb3rrytiramisu]

"Ted is doomed to become the homeless man and eventually die a horrible death wherein he is trapped within the Bastard's Box for eternity" to YOU. I, however, live in the Hatchetfield universe where he is de-Tinky'd through some magical and/or scientific machinations beyond my writing ability <3

His brain could never truly be "repaired" to its original state but you'll get some vicious side eyes from one Peter Spankoffski for ever referring to it as "broken". It's still his brother, and everyone adjusts to a new normal.

His internal clock is no longer linear; on good days his watch and many clocks and calendars keep him on track, but when he gets what Pete refers to as the "Time Scrambles", he gets foggy and mixed up, at which point someone will usually put on Borat for him and tell him to rest up till things make sense again.

Don't think Tinky doesn't try and wiggle his way back in; even if it's a bluff, being told "I'm coming for your ass" by a bright yellow demon goat doesn't help you sleep at night.

What should Ted's dog's name be tell me in the tags :3

[conversationsoflife]

Genesis 42:27-38 - ON GETTING UNSTUCK! - Part 2 

Perhaps you feel stuck too. Can I encourage you with these words from the Bible? They speak about grief and about trusting in God for what we do know and trusting in Him for what we don’t know. God doesn’t protect us from seasons of difficult circumstance

Jacob grieving for his son Joseph. On getting Unstuck.© Created by Ross Cochrane on Blender 3.9 and GetPaint.net Genesis 42:27-38 – ON GETTING UNSTUCK! – Part 2  STUCK THROUGH GUILT Joseph as the Egyptian Governor, and unrecognizable to his brothers, has tied up his brother Simeon before them. He has given them an ultimatum that Simeon will remain in prison until their younger brother returns…

[ariaxco]

why you're still stuck (and how to get unstuck)⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ 🕊️

you’re not stuck because life is unfair. you’re stuck because you’re doing the same things and expecting different results.

nobody's coming to drag you out of bed. nobody's going to shove your goals into your hands. you either decide today matters — or you keep lying to yourself that you’ll start tomorrow. 🌷

the truth is: • comfort is killing you softly. • fear is disguising itself as “playing it safe.” • procrastination feels easier now but it costs you everything later.

if you want to move, you have to be willing to move imperfectly.

messy mornings

awkward first steps

showing up ugly, unsure, half-ready

waiting until you "feel ready" is why you're still where you were six months ago.

you don't need a new planner, a new outfit, a new perfect schedule. you need urgency. you need to act like the door is closing — because it is.

time will pass whether you move or not.

the only question is: will you be proud of how you used it?

start with what you can do today. • make one decision your future self will thank you for. • take one risk that scares you in a good way. • finish one thing you've been putting off because it's "too small" to matter.

the only way to get unstuck is to move while you’re still scared.

nobody's coming. no permission slip, no announcement. it's on you — always has been. 🕯️

being stuck isn’t permanent. but staying stuck? that’s a choice.

get up before you're ready. do it badly at first. keep going until it looks easy to everyone else.

[determinedskipping]

returning from a bajillion years on Braize to glaze humans, mercy kill your bestie and be generally unbothered by the apocalypse happening around you all by yourself, handsome?

drawn for @basket-of-radiants’s campaign to get El to stormlight sexyman status. i will do my part by only referring to him as Big Daddy El from here on out

[tojosuggestionbox]

[sea-parrot]

Mechs tierlist based on how likely it'd be that they put a lightbulb in their mouth after hearing that you can put a lightbulb in your mouth but can't get it out